30 May 2010

Paving the Way for Cyclists

This scaffolding platform appeared across the street one day last week. It was constructed for a camera crane - the long thing on top - for filming a scene from a drama series for Danish Broadcasting. It took all night to erect, it was used for a few hours and then took ages to dismantle.

It's an interesting example of how the bike lanes have priority here. This stretch of bike lane is medium-sized, with about 10,000 cyclists in each direction each day. Blocking the bike lanes on main thoroughfares is out of the question. The platform allows for free access for cyclists. Usually the sidewalks must also be kept free. In this rare case, the pedestrians have to share the bike lane for a few metres, but it's only for one day. Generally, when you have construction work you must keep the lanes clear, as illustrated in the photo, above. Cables are led over the lane and nothing, as a rule, restricts the smooth flow on the pavement.

In this example, construction forced the closure of the sidewalk and bike lane. Pedestrians had to cross to the other side of the street, but space was made for a temporary bike lane on this side, due to the volume of traffic.

4 comments:

Nice regulations for short and long term construction sites... when you show examples like this it would be great if you also posted a few links to the relevant codes and so on. It would improve the chances of local or national replication when we send the link to the blog entry to some clerks or politicians.

You know, I always thought they did it out of fear that raging cyclists would storm the scaffolding and dismantle it it rage.Kidding aside, though, here you are:http://www3.kk.dk/Erhverv/TilladelserOgBevillinger/VejeOgPladser/ByggeOgGrave/~/media/7C402D9C433B4B2896271CFCF0138354.ashx

It's in danish, though. In short: "You may not obstruct or endanger traffic. All traffic is equal."

"It's an interesting example of how the bike lanes have priority here. This stretch of bike lane is medium-sized, with about 10,000 cyclists in each direction each day. Blocking the bike lanes on main thoroughfares is out of the question. The platform allows for free access for cyclists. Usually the sidewalks must also be kept free. In this rare case, the pedestrians have to share the bike lane for a few metres, but it's only for one day."Not a matter of priority or "all traffic is equal", just a matter of numbers. Why create a bigger problem to solve a minor one?

This makes me so jealous. I actually cycle to work on a fully separated from the road path (shared bike & pedestrian, but very few of either), which is nice. However, recently a construction site opened up, with the driveway crossing the path to get to the road. And warning signs sprang up on the path telling us to go at walking pace and watch out, with no similar signs on the construction site driveway. Sigh...

Kilometres cycled by Copenhageners so far today

Copenhagenize.com is the blog of Copenhagenize Design Company. Online since 2007 and highlighting the cycling life in Copenhagen and around the world.

40 years ago Copenhagen was just as car-clogged as anywhere else but now 41% of the population arriving at work or education do so on bicycles, from all over the Metro area. 55% of Copenhageners themselves use bicycles each day. They all use over 1000 km of bicycle lanes in Greater Copenhagen for their journeys. Copenhagenizing is possible anywhere.